Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Season recap'

2010 is almost over. Perfect time of the year to have a look in the rear view mirror. And there's a lot to see!

I began the year with a small knee injury, that got me worried about the coming season. Thankfully, nothing major and I could carry on. February was spent on the singlespeed before I received my Deluxe 29er in early March. A few rides at home to get a first feel and I went to the Bruniquel 2000, a bit North of Toulouse. That's where I really discovered the Deluxe, on the rocks of the nice course around Bruniquel:

In April, I spent as much time as I could on my Deluxe. This was a crucial month to get up to speed for the Transvésubienne. I rode as much as possible. I tried hard at the ESSC in the Forest of Dean and in Fontainebleau when spending a week-end home:

At the end of April, I headed to Nice for a few days to ride the Transvésubienne 2009 course. Good times, where I could enjoy scenery, gather as information as much as possible for the race and put some serious training in before taking it easy and catching up with friends at the Garda lake Festival:

Before I knew it, we were in May. The EHBE show was a blast, very nice occasion to share good moments with friends from all over Europe and seeing some amazing craftmanship. Our team jersey was also shown for the first time:

One week after, it was time to get the jersey dirty at the Transvésubienne. I won't bore you again with this race. But if you're interested, have a look to my race summary. One of my season highlights, for sure.

June was easy, I needed some rest after two crazy months with not much time at home on week-ends. Then I jumped in the car again and headed to Sweden for three weeks of vacations in July. I mostly rode my road bike over there, but also did a couple of really nice mountain bike rides mostly around Stockholm. I can say that Hellasgården is still one of my favourite places to ride on Earth. Amazing stuff!

On the way back from Sweden, I stoppped in Germany for some XC racing in Hochspeyer before heading again in Pfalzerwald to ride the infamous F trail and meet lots of friends at Schlaflos im Sattel. Not much riding afterwards in August. A few nice rides to discover again trails around home and some much needed family time. Eurobike rounded the month and summer was almost gone.

September and October were mostly spent singlespeeding, sometimes on a borrowed bike as in Frederick (MD, USA), while on a short trip to the East Coast.

Since then, I'm back in training mode again, preparing next season. Rock climbing, trail running, BMX, road and obviously mountain bike riding. Spending more time at home, I try to rest and build up strength for next season. Bring on 2011!

Huge thank you to sponsors and friends, both old and new, that made these good times possible: Wilfried for his training advices, Baptiste for being the perfect training partner, Guillaume (my physiotherapist and osteopath), Sandi and Ken @ Crema Cycles, Stefano @ Biciclista, Chris D @ Chris King, Jelle, Mario and the European singlespeed mafia for the good times at the shows, Adrian, Bo, Dane and Patrick for the rides in Stockholm, Ricky and Joe for the ride in Frederick, Basti and David @ Farhstil, etc. etc.